Yugoslavia national basketball team

Yugoslavia
FIBA ranking	Defunct
Joined FIBA	1936
FIBA zone	FIBA Europe
National federation	Basketball Federation of Yugoslavia
Nickname(s)	Plavi (Blues)
Olympic Games
Appearances	8
Medals	Gold: 1980 Silver: 1968, 1976, 1988 Bronze: 1984
FIBA World Cup
Appearances	10
Medals	Gold 1970, 1978, 1990 Silver 1963, 1967, 1974 Bronze 1982, 1986
FIBA EuroBasket
Appearances	21
Medals	Gold: 1973, 1975, 1977, 1989, 1991 Silver 1961, 1965, 1969, 1971, 1981 Bronze 1963, 1979, 1987
Uniforms
Light Dark
Medal record Summer Olympic Games 1980 Moscow 1968 Mexico City 1976 Montreal 1988 Seoul 1984 Los Angeles FIBA World Cup 1970 Yugoslavia 1978 Philippines 1990 Argentina 1963 Brazil 1967 Uruguay 1974 Puerto Rico 1982 Colombia 1986 Spain FIBA EuroBasket 1973 Spain 1975 Yugoslavia 1977 Belgium 1989 Yugoslavia 1991 Italy 1961 Yugoslavia 1965 Soviet Union 1969 Italy 1971 West Germany 1981 Czechoslovakia 1963 Poland 1979 Italy 1987 Greece Mediterranean Games 1959 Beirut 1967 Tunis 1971 Izmir 1975 Algiers 1983 Casablanca 1979 Split 1963 Naples Summer Universiade 1987 Zagreb 1979 Mexico City 1983 Kobe 1981 Bucureşti

The Yugoslavian national basketball team (Serbo-Croatian: Košarkaška reprezentacija Jugoslavije / Кошаркашка репрезентација Југославије; Slovene: Jugoslovanska košarkarska reprezentanca; Macedonian: Кошаркарска репрезентација на Југославија); (Bosnian: Košarkaška reprezentacija Jugoslavije) represented Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1943 until 1992 in international basketball matches and was controlled by the Basketball Federation of Yugoslavia (KSJ).

Competitions

The Yugoslavia team that won the 1989 FIFA EuroBasket held in Yugoslavia.

At the Summer Olympic Games, Yugoslavia captured one gold medal (1980), took the silver medal on three occasions (1968, 76, 88) and captured the bronze medal once (1984).

At the FIBA World Cup, Yugoslavia captured three gold medals (1970, 1978 and 1990), three silver medals (1963, 1967, 1974) and two bronze medals (1982, 1986).

At the EuroBasket, Yugoslavia captured the gold medal five times (1973, 1975, 1977, 1989, 1991), were silver medalists on five occasions (1961, 1965, 1969, 1971, 1981), and captured the bronze medal four times (1963, 1979, 1987).

Performance at Summer Olympic Games Year Position Pld W L 1936 Berlin Did not qualify 1948 London 1952 Helsinki 1956 Melbourne 1960 Rome 6th 8 4 4 1964 Tokyo 7th 9 5 4 1968 Mexico City 2nd 9 7 2 1972 Munich 5th 9 7 2 1976 Montreal 2nd 7 5 2 1980 Moscow 1st 8 8 0 1984 Los Angeles 3rd 8 7 1 1988 Seoul 2nd 8 6 2 Total 8/12 66 49 17 Performance at FIBA World Cup Year Position Pld W L 1950 Argentina 10th 5 0 5 1954 Brazil 11th 5 1 4 1959 Chile Did not qualify 1963 Brazil 2nd 9 8 1 1967 Uruguay 2nd 9 6 3 1970 Yugoslavia 1st 6 5 1 1974 Puerto Rico 2nd 7 6 1 1978 Philippines 1st 11 11 0 1982 Colombia 3rd 10 8 2 1986 Spain 3rd 12 10 2 1990 Argentina 1st 8 7 1 Total 10/11 82 62 20

Performance at FIBA EuroBasket Year Position Pld W L 1935 Switzerland Did not qualify 1937 Latvia 1939 Lithuania 1946 Switzerland 1947 Czechoslovakia 13th 5 2 3 1949 Egypt Did not qualify 1951 France 1953 Soviet Union 6th 11 6 5 1955 Hungary 8th 11 4 7 1957 Bulgaria 6th 10 4 6 1959 Turkey 9th 7 6 1 1961 Yugoslavia 2nd 10 8 2 1963 Poland 3rd 9 8 1 1965 Soviet Union 2nd 9 8 1 1967 Finland 9th 9 6 3 1969 Italy 2nd 7 6 1 1971 Germany 2nd 7 6 1 1973 Spain 1st 7 7 0 1975 Yugoslavia 1st 8 8 0 1977 Belgium 1st 7 6 1 1979 Italy 3rd 9 6 3 1981 Czechoslovakia 2nd 10 8 2 1983 France 7th 7 4 3 1985 Germany 7th 8 5 3 1987 Greece 3rd 8 5 3 1989 Yugoslavia 1st 5 5 0 1991 Italy 1st 5 5 0 Total 21/27 169 123 46

Medals table

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Summer Olympic Games
Yugoslavia	1	3	1	5
FIBA World Cup
Yugoslavia	3	3	2	8
FIBA EuroBasket
Yugoslavia	5	5	3	13
Mediterranean Games
Yugoslavia	5	1	1	7
Summer Universiade
Yugoslavia	1	2	1	4
Grand Totals	15	14	8	37

Individual awards

Vlade Divac and Drazen Petrovic in the 1990 FIBA World Championship held in Argentina.

• FIBA World Cup MVP
  • Ivo Daneu – 1967
  • Dragan Kićanović – 1974
  • Dražen Dalipagić – 1978
  • Dražen Petrović – 1986
  • Toni Kukoč – 1990
• FIBA EuroBasket MVP
  • Radivoj Korać – 1961
  • Krešimir Ćosić – 1971, 1975
  • Dražen Dalipagić – 1977
  • Dražen Petrović – 1989
  • Toni Kukoč – 1991
• FIBA World Cup All-Tournament Team
  • Radivoj Korać – 1967
  • Ivo Daneu – 1967
  • Krešimir Ćosić – 1970, 1978
  • Vinko Jelovac – 1974
  • Dražen Dalipagić – 1978
  • Dragan Kićanović – 1978, 1982
  • Dražen Petrović – 1986
  • Vlade Divac – 1990
  • Toni Kukoč – 1990
• FIBA EuroBasket All-Tournament Team
  • Krešimir Ćosić – 1969, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1979
  • Ivo Daneu – 1969
  • Dražen Dalipagić – 1975, 1977, 1981
  • Dragan Kićanović – 1979, 1981
  • Dražen Petrović – 1985, 1989
  • Žarko Paspalj – 1989
  • Dino Rađa – 1989
  • Vlade Divac – 1991
  • Toni Kukoč – 1991

European championships

EuroBasket 1947

Yugoslavia made its European championship debut in EuroBasket 1947, the fifth edition of the tournament. The team placed 13th out of 14 teams in the competition, losing to the Soviet Union and Hungary in the preliminary round, beating the Netherlands but losing to Italy in the semifinal round (placing third in the three-way tie between the teams), and defeating Albania in the 13th/14th classification match.

EuroBasket 1953

Yugoslavia's second appearance was at EuroBasket 1953 in Moscow. They dropped an early 27–25 decision against Bulgaria but finished at 3–1 in their preliminary group. In the three-way tie-breaker with Bulgaria and Israel, Yugoslavia ended up in second place to advance to the final round. There, they won 3 but lost 4 to take 6th place overall in the 17-team tournament.

EuroBasket 1955

Yugoslavia again advanced to the final round at EuroBasket 1955 in Budapest, this time in sole second place with a 3–1 record in the preliminary round pool. Their final round performance was riddled with 6 losses in 7 games, but did include the high point of a 52–49 victory over eventual silver medallist Czechoslovakia on Yugoslavia's way to an 8th-place finish of the 18 entrants.

EuroBasket 1957

Yugoslavia's appearance at the EuroBasket 1957 tournament in Sofia resulted in a 2–1 record for the preliminary round and advancement to the final round robin. There, they proved capable of two wins, defeating Poland and France to finish at 2–5 for 6th place in the tournament.

The dominant years in FIBA competition

The Yugoslav national team of the late 1980s and early 1990s featured what was perhaps the greatest generation in the history of Yugoslav basketball. A common quip about basketball is: "The Americans invented it, the Yugoslavs perfected it." With such players as Dražen Petrović, Vlade Divac, Toni Kukoč, Dino Rađa, Predrag Danilović, Žarko Paspalj and Jure Zdovc the country was responsible for a wave of international NBA players in the 1990s.

Many of the former Yugoslav players of this era were a part of the under-21 national team that won the FIBA World Junior Championships in 1987, defeating the U.S. both in pool play and in the final.

Rosters

For 1992 onwards, as Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: see Serbia and Montenegro national basketball team

Player statistics

Notable people

Players

Manager history

• 1947–1950 – Stevica Čolović
• 1950–1953 – Nebojša Popović
• 1954–1965 – Aleksandar Nikolić
• 1965–1972 – Ranko Žeravica
• 1973–1976 – Mirko Novosel
• 1977–1978 – Aleksandar Nikolić
• 1979 – Petar Skansi
• 1980 – Ranko Žeravica
• 1981 – Bogdan Tanjević
• 1982 – Ranko Žeravica
• 1983 – Josip Gjergja
• 1984 – Mirko Novosel
• 1985–1987 – Krešimir Ćosić
• 1988–1991 – Dušan Ivković

Successor teams

• Bosnia and Herzegovina national basketball team
• Croatia national basketball team
• Kosovo national basketball team
• Macedonia national basketball team
• Montenegro national basketball team
• Serbia national basketball team^[1]
• Slovenia national basketball team

References